This heartwarming story comes from our warehouse in Sturtevant, Wisconsin.

One of our delivery drivers, Cynthia Hansen was driving down a busy four lane highway last week when she saw a small dog on the road.  Pulling over to the side, Cynthia took the lost dog out of the cold weather and checked the poor thing’s collar for tags.

The dog, a small Lhasa Apso, was fortunately wearing his phone number around it’s neck.  Cynthia was able to get in contact with the puppy’s family and bring him back to his home.

It turned out that even though the dog was discovered just a short ways away from home, she had been lost for nearly four days.  The family had been worried that their pet had been stolen or killed.

Imagine their joy when their precious family pet was returned!  Cynthia definitely spared this family from the pain of having to greive a lost pet during the holiday season.

According to this interesting article in The Independent the reason Racehorses are able to run at such high speeds without overheating or losing consciousness, is because they are equipped with a biological radiator that keeps their brains cool.

Horses generate so much heat while galloping that their blood reaches temperatures of up to 104 degrees, enough to cause serious damage to a horse’s brain.  However, before the blood reaches the brain it is cooled by moving past internal pouches filled with cooler air.  This anatomical heat transfer system keeps the horse from damaging it’s brain in much the same way that the heat transfer systems in our cars keep our engines from suffering permanent damage or failure.

Of course, when a car overheats, the thing that suffers most is not the automobile itself but the cars owner.  He or she is the one that has to deal with the stress and expense of getting the vehicle up and running.  Fortunately Radiator.com is here to help.

Hello video watchers!

Have you ever wondered what it takes to make a radiator like the one in your car? Well, car radiators don’t drop out of the skies or grow on trees, as this video about how to manufacture radiator pieces makes perfectly obvious.

When I think of a new radiator, I think of the finished products stacked in a radiator warehouse like discount dealer Radiator.com. Neat little rectangular things made to slip into their precise places near the engine in order to keep it cool.

This video takes us back a little earlier in the lifecycle of a Radiator to a plant where four workmen are busy cutting, twirling things, measuring pieces and machining a bunch of what look like giant sections of Radiators, hopefully soon to become more recognizable auto car radiators like the ones that I am familiar with. No plastic radiators here. These guys are busy with the makings of a metal radiator, if the forklift is any indication of the tremendous weight of these pieces.

And then there is the two-times taller than the men who are working height of the finished products. This working warehouse is huge, busy and efficient looking. The guys seem to be taking great pains to turn out precise products and the music (there are no words in this video) has a sort of driving, no-nonsense quality that makes you want to say, “Yeah, guys! You go to it!” Thanks for this video and music interlude. It will help me to appreciate the little (by comparison) radiator under my Eclipse’s hood.

– Ciao, Susie

IDIOT OF THE WEEK:

Okay so I’m driving downtown to meet some of my friends for appetizers and beers. Specifically calamari. Damn I love that stuff. I had probably had calamari about 10 times before someone leaned over and told me, “Dude, you know that’s squid, right?” By that time it was too late. They could have told me it was made of old boots. I was already hooked. After all, it’s deep fried isn’t it? But I digress…

So I’m in my car (’97 Toyota Corolla baby!) and I’m climbing up levels in the parking garage. And this place is packed. Evidently, I wasn’t the only one with calamari on the brain because every spot was filled. I’m talking about “giant diesel turbo-charged trucks parked in the compact spots” packed. Frankly, I take exception to that. I’m pretty open to almost any type of vehicle parking in compact spots but you have to draw the line somewhere. When I see a turbocharged Cummins diesel giant parked in a compact spot, as a compact car driver I get a little offended! That’s like me being handicap and having to wait while you, a regular joe, stinks up my stall. You don’t need those handrails man! But I digress yet again.

So the dude in front of me comes to a stop. So I stop my little Toyota Corolla safely behind him assuming that he is waiting for someone to pull out. If only I had gotten there seconds earlier, I would have been the one waiting and would be closer to hot crispy calamari. Alas, it was not so.

All of a sudden the guy in front of me (who will hereafter be referred to as “dude”, throws his car into reverse and starts backing up for no apparent reason at all! I lay it on the horn but he’s coming back to fast and *CRUNCH!*. Dude nailed my beautiful Toyota Corolla. Getting out of the car I know that I am instantly in the market for some Toyota Corolla parts. Pushed in grill, broken headlights, and upon further inspection, one banged up Toyota Corolla radiator. Hooray.

Naturally, before I checked out my car I gave Dude the ol’ “What the hell were you doing?” to which he muttered, “I was just trying to get out of here.” Let’s stop and think about that for a second. Instead of using the designated exits, his course of logic told him to throw his car into reverse… and then back up really fact without looking in his mirror. That’s like being stuck in traffic and reversing on the freeway to the last exit you just missed. Or, in other words: it’s stupid. Really stupid.

So now I have a confession to make. Through this course of events, I learned that I really do love my Toyota Corolla. I mean, I talk bad about it to my friends who all have nicer cars, but that thing is tiny and fun to drive. I can pull off turns that no vehicle should be able to make. So I found myself in the position of wanting the highest quality Toyota Corolla parts. The insurance company gave me a check and I hit the road shopping. I started with the radiator. My first instinct was to head over to the dealer where they no doubt carry authentic Toyota radiators. And they do. They just cost more than a freakin’ plasma TV. I couldn’t believe my ears when they told me what they wanted for Toyota Corolla parts. I love my Corolla, but not THAT much.

So what next? I checked out a bunch of auto parts wholesale and auto parts warehouse places. They’re prices were still a little inflated, but the worst part was the 16 year olds behind the counter. I’m pretty sure that none of them had even heard of a Toyota Corolla before. Actually, I’m not sure any of them had even seen a car before. Okay, maybe that’s being a little extreme but I had no confidence that they would know enough to order me the right part. For example, they gave me a price without even asking me the year of the car. I may not be some mechanical guru, but I’m pretty sure somewhere in the evolution of Toyota Corolla parts they changed the design of the radiator at least once.

So I checked the phone book and came across a phone number. Radiator Hotline. It was like finding a nugget of gold in a pot of dirt. These guys asked me incredibly detailed questions, explained to my WHY they were asking me those questions, and sold me a discount Corolla radiator for half of where I had seen it anywhere else. And when I got this thing, it was put together better than the one I bought the car with! Not only that, but they checked into their database for me and helped me find a parts guy that they had a good relationship with. They got us both on the phone and introduced us and this guy ended up getting me the rest of my Toyota Corolla parts for next to nothing. And these were quality parts, mind you! I got my entire dilemma handled with one phone call!

The only real complaint I had with Radiator Hotline was their lack of calamari. Never did get to eat some of that.

That’s all for now.

-Geno

My brother in Portland recently bought a Honda Civic Hybrid. He called me to talk about his experience as I plan on my next car payment going towards a more fuel-efficient and environmentally conscious car. He knew I was in the aftermarket radiator business and the first thing he told me was that the Honda Civic radiator for his hybrid looked much like the a regular radiator and he asked me how changing fuel efficiency standards affected the radiator business.

I started to tell him how a replacement radiator is needed to cool most engines regardless of whether or not a gas engine was assisted by an electric motor when he tuned me out. “You know, I thought I’d get a few more looks from the ladies, especially some of the hippies out here but most people can’t tell this is a hybrid. I should have got the Prius,” he lamented. My suspicions that my brother’s purchase had less to do about the environment and more to do with his libido were confirmed. I told him an all aluminum Honda radiator might score with the ladies but he saw through my ploy to sell him a more expensive Honda part.

1-800-Radiator is currently in the process of expanding product line to include HVAC air parts, all of which will be in demand, even as state and federal legislators require the automotive industry to think ‘green.’

Good morning entrepreneurs, radiator repair and car part enthusiasts. As I write this dispatch from the 1-800-Radiator Franchise seat, we are on the verge of opening our 195^th franchise territory in the United States and talking to some very sharp Canadian candidates in key provinces. I talk to a lot of people interested in learning about our franchise model. The most commonly asked question is ‘do people really need new radiators that often?’ As we continue to grow we’re seeing Radiator Repair shops that used to fix leaking side tanks and re-core radiators either fall out of the market as newer radiators became the more cost-effective way of keeping engines cool. The ones that stuck around will stock some new radiators or contact a distributor like 1-800-Radiator if their customer’s Honda Accord has a leaking plastic side tank and repair is not an option. The discount radiator market has become a huge niche over the last 20 years or so and 1-800-Radiator has seized upon the opportunity by doing a few things very well.

Our size provides tremendous leverage with cooling part manufacturers who offer us the most competitive pricing on radiators. We’ve also utilized technology to create a robust, streamlined web-based point of sale system for looking up parts, managing customer buying data and running effective sales warehouses. We were also one of the first to jump into the online auto parts market by purchasing several doming names that consistently rank high for retail customers or do it yourself guys that don’t go to shops. Handmade radiators and used radiators are no longer marketable even in the most frugal markets when a brand new radiator can be purchased on one of our web sites and shipped at no cost. Finally, allowing local owners the opportunity to grow a protected territory puts customer relationship building with our wholesale buyers in the hands of highly qualified individuals who have a lot invested in insuring optimum service, competitive pricing and quick turnaround times on customer issues.

Our old corporate distribution model had some junk in the trunk that the franchise model has gotten rid of. As we look to the immediate future, radiators will only be one of several key parts that we sell. Some key acquisitions have ushered in the addition of air parts and radiator component parts such as fan assemblies that out franchise owners will all eventually stock.

In 2003 I was teaching 6th graders in the Oakland CA Unified School District when I had an epiphany. I was cleaning a smeared Grape Jelly sandwich off of my chalkboard while admonishing a student who, while criticizing another student with a “Your Mom” joke had used a double negative, when it hit me. I really love teaching but there must be another way to make a living in California. The job hunt was on.

I am not good with cars. As a matter of fact, I’ve never changed my own oil, a tire and if truth be told, I do not even know how to program a radio station in our Volkswagen Jetta. I never saw myself in the auto parts industry, let alone working for the nation’s largest distributors of radiators, Radiator Warehouse. Yet at the end of the summer, I started learning about the difference between plastic tanks, radiator repair, when you need a new radiator and other car part components that help cool your car’s engine. Somehow I was able to parlay my experience teaching kids into a call center environment managing students of The Radiator.

I quickly came to realize how much radiators were in demand and found myself talking to friends and relatives about the difference in core measurement between a Chevy truck radiator and a Honda Civic radiator. As the company grew and eventually started franchising, I became more enthusiastic about the radiator market. Though I still miss the occasional “Your Mom” joke.